Letter to Putin leaves schoolgirl out in the cold

A WELL-MEANING but sloppily written letter to President Putin from a 17-year-old Russian schoolgirl has cost its author her leaving prize and a place at medical school.

Anna Provorova was looking forward to the leavers' dance at her village school but had no video recorder with which to film the event. So she followed the example of thousands of other Russians confident that the Kremlin can solve all their problems by writing to the president for help. On behalf of her classmates, she asked Mr Putin for a camcorder and even invited the Russian leader to attend last Saturday's entertainment in person, promising: "You will have a good time. We will feed you pies."

Her spelling was beyond reproach. But she broke two rules of Russian correspondence: she forgot the exclamation mark after the greeting "Esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin!" and spelt the word "you" without a capital letter. Kremlin staff who received the request sent it back to the local authorities, where officials behaved as though the head of state had suffered a grave insult.

In a move reminiscent of the Stalin era, inspectors arrived at the school in the remote village in northern Russia to insist on identifying which of the school's 156 pupils writing in the name of the "11th grade students of Vorobyovo" had penned the unsigned letter. They demanded that Anna be denied the leavers' silver medal that had been recommended by the headmistress. Later, the school discovered that her algebra and essay grades had been revised downwards.

The new exam results shatter her dream of studying at medical school, condemning her to receive her higher education at a local dairy institute. Teaching staff reprimanded the pupils for their "civil immaturity and lack of responsibility for their deeds". The school's director of studies, Avgusta Smirnova, expressed outrage at the girl's treatment. "She deserved her medal and it was a terrible blow when she heard she wouldn't get it," she said. "She burst into tears. It is all very unfair."